Hill wants high times to return after May misery for Purton

PURTON captain Elliot Hill is looking to end a miserable May on a high.

Having yet to win a game in the Wiltshire Division this term, Hill’s side welcome fellow winless outfit Calne to the Purton Cricket Ground tomorrow.

And while the new season is still in its embryonic stage, the Purton captain is all too aware of the importance of the game.

“It is vitally important that we finish May with a win,” Hill said. “The results and the heinous weather have made it a frustrating start for us and I don’t want to go into June having not won a match.

“We know quite a bit about the Calne side, but we haven’t played them for a few years - even when we were in the same division.

“We will go out there trying our hardest to put in a performance and get the result.”

Hill admits that the weather is also interrupting their preparations for matches as they have been unable to train on a regular basis.

“We managed to get a impromptu session in on Sunday which I think the guys took a lot out off,” Hill said. “Hopefully the weather this evening will allow to train and then we can hit the ground running tomorrow.

“But I know that other clubs are in the same boat to us.”

The Purton captain is also pleased with the strength in depth he now has at his disposal as Indian under 19 international Akarshit Gomel set to make his first appearance of the campaign.

“Generally now we can have eight recognised batsmen,” Hill said. “The good thing is that our nine, 10 and 11 have also chipped in with runs.

“But with Tom (Bowler) and Akki at the top of the order we can really get off to a good start.

“We also have two genuine all-rounders with that pair and I have six or seven options I can call with the ball.

“I think that we have a good depth to are squad this season and fingers crossed we can get the result tomorrow.”

But Hill admits that their ground has been saturated this week but is hopeful that they won’t see a second successive wash out.

“I went to the ground on Wednesday night and there was a lot of water on the outfield,” the Purton skipper said.

“We are quite lucky that we are on the top of a hill and it drains quite quickly, but it won’t take much more water though.

“If we can’t get a game on tomorrow, then I don’t expect many other teams in Wiltshire to do so either.”